Hawaii attracts 10 million visitors a year and for most of them pronouncing the correct Hawaiian name of every island is a bit of a mouthful… I had never really given it a second thought until Hannah told me that nicknaming the islands wasn’t necessarily endorsed, especially calling Kaho’olawe the Target Island as it is not bombed anymore and in recovery for spiritual and cultural renewal. Big Island, which is widely accepted and used to refer to Hawai’i, actually has another name used by practitioners: Keawe. So even Big Island is no longer considered appropriate by most practitioners in print.

I didn’t need much convincing, I draw maps to highlight local culture, fauna and flora, so it was obvious that the nicknames had to go.